Bleach: Soul Ignition And Ape Escape: On The Move Demos Heat Up On Friday

Heads up, Bleach fans. You can sample Bleach: Soul Ignition on Friday. Just log on to PlayStation Network with a Japanese account and download Bleach: Soul Ignition Hell Chapter Special Trial Version.

A digital brochure also saysApe Escape on the Move, and Big Gun 3 Shooting aka Time Crisis: Razing Storm demos are slated for the same day. Both are on-rails, first person games. You shoot skeleton pirates in one and whack monkeys with a net in the other.

You along with a dwindling hand full of others, are pretty much the only ones looking forward to this game. From Youtube to other Bleach forum sites, or any other anime forum sites, fans are showing great disappointment and hate to Soul Ignition.

Why? Well, half of them are people who expected a good fighter, but now see that its not happening and won’t happen. The other half, are people who deeply dislike Dynasty Warriors and find everything about the gameplay a watered down version of the Soul Carnival series.

An anime game can not be “Anime of the Year” material if the fans hate it, which will then damage sales and profits. Don’t get me wrong, finally having a Bleach game on the PS3 is great! But the game itself just isn’t the cup of tea fans were expecting. They’ll probably try out the demo anyway since watching gameplay is different than playing it, so things might change for the better, or increasingly worsen.

I would have loved a Bleach style fighter for the PS3. The variety of abilities and powers shared by the collective Bleach characters demands it, imo. Mostly because aside from Ichigo’s hollow form and his skull cap thing, his powers are fairly bland. His main attacks consist of an energy slash and wild swings, and that just gets stale really quickly. Something also tells me you won’t be able to freely switch between his forms, meaning you are stuck slashing away.

Guest

I guess after the two on the Wii and the other two on the PS2 as well as the seven of them on PSP and the other two on the DS, maybe it’s time for something different?

What these so called “fans” want is a clone of Storm or Raging Blast. That’s really what they mean. It will be a great game to proper Bleach fans simply because it finally is a Bleach game on the PS3. It also isn’t finished either so I wouldn’t think that there will be just one combo in the finished product like in the demo.

I personally can’t wait to find out more about this because of its potential as an action game. I hope there’s a proper trailer soon enough showing more characters and hopefully the captains VS the Espada.

The demo didn’t not hold one combo like most people think they are seeing. The attacking, really needs a bit more…Ya know. Attacks. Seems that there are about 4 attack moves. At least that was displayed from Ichigo.

There’s then the “Press L” Transformation, which gives the character an extra powerful attack at the end of the standard ground combo, so at least that changes the character a bit instead of a power boost.

Judging from the boss, he displayed a powerful cinematic real time attack. Its probably his special attack. So that adds onto the gameplay more.

So all in all, the attacks though seemingly shallow. It has enough to keep the game going for a while.

I don’t mean to be a bookworm, but don’t forget that there are others who wouldn’t mind a HTS clone as well. Can you blame “fans” for wanting a fighter, even if it may be a clone of another game that they enjoy or find acceptable? When has there ever been a Bleach action adventure game that allows tons of characters (Over 40) along with a good moveset that brings the character out? Or a Bleach action adventure that has decent replay value with a multiplayer function, not a versus function. More along the lines of Co-Op. I agree this game has potential, but for a game with potential its getting more hate and bashing then any other Bleach game to my knowledge.

karasuKumo

Sorry my mistake, I should have said one ground combo. I am almost sure in the final product there will be ground combo’s for the different directions on the analogue like other games. The screens haven’t done it much justice though all we’ve seen is Ichigo using Getsugas and doing an ariel combo :/.

About HTS it would be good PS3 game but in my opinion doesn’t keep up with the pace of Bleach and has a battle area that’s far too small (Nel’s transformed state and Komamura’s Bankai are horrid in the cramped space). This game looks like it will keep a fast pace and it obviously has a giant battle area like in the series.

This game combines a couple of Bleach titles, for example it uses the speed of Soul Carnival and the battle system of Versus Crusade. I’m hoping with the characters of a HTS title haha.

Thinking about it makes me excited because imagine some of the captains’ Bankai’s in this game. Like Hitsugaya’s, Renji’s, Kurotsuchi’s and even the Espada’s resurrected states. I guess it’s just the wait now :(.

I can’t blame fans for wanting a clone of a fighter but this game could really be the great action game you described, maybe it has multiplayer co-op. It’s getting bashed because it was unexpected and different compared to the games you get for Naruto, Dragonball etc.

Holy! At first I was shocked to find out Arakawa Hiromu (FMA’s author) was a woman, now Amano Akira (Hitman) and Hoshino Katsura (D.Gray-man) as well!? I would never have known from their male-sounding names, cartoon self portraits, and their solid shounen drawing styles.. Especially Hoshino, I’ve read all the small talks in the D.Gray-man manga, the artist sounded so demented and humorous sometimes I always assumed it’s just a weird guy.. also the grotesque and horror drawing style especially at the beginning.. You learn something new everyday.. well, at least I know Obata Takeshi, Adachi Mitsuru, or Fujisaki Ryu are definitely guys lol..

10 Years is too short, we need more, more Ichigo!!! My dream is for Ichigo and Aizen to team up and stuff and defeat hollows and stuff together, that would be simply epic! Oh and for Toshiro to become super powerful

Hey Siliconera/Spencer, would you be able to give us a playtest of the demo. Would be neat to see if this is Dynasty Warriors in Bleach clothing or if it’s seemingly able to stand on it’s own two feet – even if it’s only a demo it would still be a good thing to know.

PrinceHeir

i think a Bleach Devil May Cry style would definitely fit in this kind of game, i mean the atmosphere, enemies and the stylish moves definitely fit in DMC style.

imagine Ichigo charging his sword or changing to his other self(sorry i don’t watch the anime) as his Devil trigger, that would be awesome :)

neon6

That idea could work if Sony actually got some half decent developers.

“That idea could work if Sony Japan actually got some half decent developers… ”
I guess you forgot to say: “… to work on this specific title, Bleach: Soul Ignition.”

It’s really not Sony’s fault. Not all developers are keen to work on an anime-based game, especially if Sony (Japan or NA) is trying to plan on releasing this game outside Japan. But you’re right, the studio, who’s working on this title, might not be the best choice or might not have choose the best engine to work on it. Come on guys!! It is Bleach… you fight evil spirits like in the DMC games, and you use a DW’s engine?!? Even in DMC you can take on multiple enemies at the same time and do aerial combos in a more stylish way. The cell shading could have been better, especially in 1080p, it’s almost look like they tried to resize a PSP version of the game to fit it with the PS3’s resolution.

neon6

I’ve read that the same team who worked on the Soul Carnival games is working on this. I only played them once and they weren’t very fun, so it’ll be a big surprise to me if they can actually make this game good. Doesn’t really matter though, the DS games still remain the best pieces I’ve seen Sega done with the Bleach license. If you’ve got a DS, you should try them.

Somehow you’re right, if this game is set to be Action Adventure focus-only, then Dynasty Warriors might not the be the greatest engine that could be use for this franchise. They need to use another engine that could appeal at the same time the North American, the European and the Japanese fans. Something like the original Devil May Cry (1 or 3)’s engine may be the best way to pull off the style of the anime, since you fight “demons”/evil ghosts aka hollows like in DMC and can use aerial combos.

This is a question for you Bleach fans out there, who owns a PS3… What do you think of DMC’s engine? Would it suit better than the DW’s one?

neon6

I’m surprised Ape Escape games are still being made considering the series has devolved into party games ala Mario Party. Though I wouldn’t mind seeing another real sequel into the main series, I haven’t heard anything about Ape Escape 4 other than TBA.

Guest

THere’s been a few RPG’s too

Xekyo

welll it isn’t the finished product yet. only the demo. hopefully they improve the battle system before then. like being able to learn new moves later on. different button combos for different attacks and such. I do admit, that last video kinda ruined it for me but it’s only one video. i’m sure it’ll be better then just that. i still have hope. :D

Well everyone, the demo is now officially out within the store. I look forward to hearing your opinions about the demo and the impression it left you. I’ll download it later, just to sleepy to do it now lol.

Regardless of the bashing this game has been taking, I hope that the people curious about playing it and trying it out will have a good time.

Not bad… not bad at all. It does play a little bit like dynasty warriors… the only problems I found within this game are: 1st… the game’s trial looked way too blurred for some reasons. Not as sharp as I thought it would be, especially if it says that the game runs on 1080p. 2nd… the game becomes repetitive as you get through it since you don’t have much combos, hopefully things will be way different in the final product, with upgradeable skills, techniques and specials? 3rd… I don’t know why but something’s missing, I can’t put the finger on it. Anyway, I’ll keep faith in the future of this game. Hopefully, it will turned out to be one of those Bleach games that any Bleach fans, who have PS3, must own, cause its future sure can be promising.

If I’m not wrong, I believed this demo was created for the only purpose to promote the new Bleach movie that came out, which ended in feeling rushed and almost broken. Even the name of the demo is a hint to it… Bleach: Soul Ignition – Hell Chapter Special… I strongly believe things will be way different in the actual game. Cause if you compared what you saw in the scans with what you saw in this trial, the trial wasn’t as sharp as the images showed in the magazines.

Furthermore, if this game does run on a Dynasty Warrior kind of gameplay, we should expect to have the possibility to upgrade our playable characters’ skills, techniques and specials. Also, remember that this trial was only the BETA version of the actual game. If it does release in 2011 in Japan, it won’t be available before next holidays. From the looks of it and the way it plays, they still have a lot of work to do before non-japanese fans import this game, if Sony Japan doesn’t plan an international release.

In the end, Bleach: Soul Ignition might not be able to pull off Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 standards, but hopefully will set new ones for other Bleach games that are to come, if the studio who’s working on this game, plays the right cards and pull off some nice tricks of its own. Thus this trial was a deception, I will keep faith in the good future of this game. Even if I may not be a Bleach fan, since I didn’t manage to read every chapters so I’m kind of lost with the actual story, I strongly believe that Bleach: Soul Ignition might become the first Bleach title to officially reach the North American and European borders and market if it does sell well in Japan.

If you remember Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage, which was released in the past months on PS3 and 360, it was the first “Hokuto no Ken” game to reach the NA and Eu borders & market due to amazing sells in Japan. Like the Bleach franchise, its previous titles were also Japan-exclusives. The reason I brought up this comparison, it’s because, like Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage, Bleach: Soul Ignition has a Dynasty Warriors feel to it, which haven’t stopped the game FotNS from being sold outside Japan, either through imports or official releases.

So, uh, I played the demo and people who despise Dynasty Warriors’ gameplay will hate this game with a passion. It’s best to try the demo or wait for a proper review before turning in your money to Sony for this one

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